Puzzled by the bizarre "press conference" put on by the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer?

[Snarkoleptic]

From an anonymous online rando, this is spot on!

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/105/614062.page

If you are puzzled by the bizarre "press conference" put on by the White House press secretary this evening (angrily claiming that Trump's inauguration had the largest audience in history, accusing them of faking photos and lying about attendance), let me help explain it. This spectacle served three purposes:

1. Establishing a norm with the press: they will be told things that are obviously wrong and they will have no opportunity to ask questions. That way, they will be grateful if they get anything more at any press conference. This is the PR equivalent of "negging," the odious pick-up practice of a particular kind of horrible person (e.g., Donald Trump).

2. Increasing the separation between Trump's base (1/3 of the population) from everybody else (the remaining 2/3). By being told something that is obviously wrong—that there is no evidence for and all evidence against, that anybody with eyes can see is wrong—they are forced to pick whether they are going to believe Trump or their lying eyes. The gamble here—likely to pay off—is that they will believe Trump. This means that they will regard media outlets that report the truth as "fake news" (because otherwise they'd be forced to confront their cognitive dissonance.)

3. Creating a sense of uncertainty about whether facts are knowable, among a certain chunk of the population (which is a taking a page from the Kremlin, for whom this is their preferred disinformation tactic). A third of the population will say "clearly the White House is lying," a third will say "if Trump says it, it must be true," and the remaining third will say "gosh, I guess this is unknowable." The idea isn't to convince these people of untrue things, it's to fatigue them, so that they will stay out of the political process entirely, regarding the truth as just too difficult to determine.

This is laying important groundwork for the months ahead. If Trump's White House is willing to lie about something as obviously, unquestionably fake as this, just imagine what else they'll lie about. In particular, things that the public cannot possibly verify the truth of. It's gonna get real bad.

[handmade34]

1. 'gaslighting'

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america

"Gaslighting is a form of manipulation through persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying in an attempt to destabilize and delegitimize a target. Its intent is to sow seeds of doubt in the targets, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception...."
from Wikipedia

[Cha]

6. Yep.

[workinclasszero]

34. That's it

The truth is a lie, a lie is the truth. The truth is a lie, a lie is the truth. The truth is a lie, a lie is the truth. The truth is a lie, a lie is the truth, to infinity and beyond!

The reich wing has operated on this precept for years.

Now its in the white house and there will be unrelenting lies from that scum ball for the next four years.

[Achilleaze]

2. Comrade Spice Boy (IKGOPR*)

* Illegitimate KGOP Regime, Inc.

[appal_jack]

3. 4) Creating a distraction from much worse crimes.

The present occupant of the White House is a distraction, a carnival barker with a pretty lady by his side up onstage shouting loudly so that the pickpockets can work the crowd with wild abandon. From the Dominionist and anti-woman Vice President on down, we can see the real purpose of this regime.

Even the 18% of eligible American voters who rallied to the fake populism of a billionaire blowhard will not get what they voted for. Instead, we are facing a racist attorney general who wishes to re-institute segregation and increase unjustified incarceration. We face an Education Secretary expressly committed to bankrupting people via student loans, while tearing down our remaining public educational infrastructure. An EPA head who hopes to pillage rather than protect the environment. A Treasury Secretary who had his hand very deep in the till during the recent emptying of the Treasury via a massive housing bust. I could go on, but the point is NO ONE other than extreme racists and members of the rarefied 1% voted for what they are about to get. There certainly are people who hate either the name or even some details of 'Obamacare,' but how many really voted to reduce health coverage provided by the ACA and Medicare overall? How many voted to give more money to rich people at the expense of regular people and the nation as a whole? Such a theft requires a big distraction.

-app

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Great points! This should be an OP.

[appal_jack]

45. Thanks FTC (& Scarsdale & lastlib)

I'll just keep my point here for now, as I think that all of this thread by Snarkoleptic is worth a read.

But the show vs. actual reality of the Hauptdrumpfgropenfuhrer regime weighs heavily upon my mind, so I may expand these thoughts into an OP eventually.

-app

[Scarsdale]

30. Pressue

Is Spicer caving to the pressure of the job already? Maybe he is upset that he has to wear too large suits just like the Boss Hogg?

[lastlib]

37. EXCELLENT POINT!! Everybody read this one!

It points out clearly the Trump shell game that's going on to manipulate us away from his criminal activity!

[Starfury]

47. It sucks all the oxygen from the room, distracting the press from more important issues

Yes, everyone needs to realize that these seemingly boneheaded "alternative facts" are in actuality a deliberate tactic, and we need to get used to ignoring them and staying on target. These people require secrecy to accomplish their goals, and they can't afford real media or public scrutiny. As long as the press chases these stupid distractions, they aren't talking about what else is happening. Valuable interview time (such as during MtP) is devoted to arguing about trivia instead of forcing more meaningful topics and questions.

If we can help keep the media focused on what really matters, that will shine a light on their activities and make it more difficult for them to loot and destroy our institutions.

[uponit7771]

57. +1

[Cha]

4. This is what I thought they were doing more or less.. it's

awfully damn obvious.

If you are puzzled by the bizarre "press conference" put on by the White House press secretary this evening (angrily claiming that Trump's inauguration had the largest audience in history, accusing them of faking photos and lying about attendance), let me help explain it. This spectacle served three purposes:

1. Establishing a norm with the press: they will be told things that are obviously wrong and they will have no opportunity to ask questions. That way, they will be grateful if they get anything more at any press conference. This is the PR equivalent of "negging," the odious pick-up practice of a particular kind of horrible person (e.g., Donald Trump).

2. Increasing the separation between Trump's base (1/3 of the population) from everybody else (the remaining 2/3). By being told something that is obviously wrong—that there is no evidence for and all evidence against, that anybody with eyes can see is wrong—they are forced to pick whether they are going to believe Trump or their lying eyes. The gamble here—likely to pay off—is that they will believe Trump. This means that they will regard media outlets that report the truth as "fake news" (because otherwise they'd be forced to confront their cognitive dissonance.)

3. Creating a sense of uncertainty about whether facts are knowable, among a certain chunk of the population (which is a taking a page from the Kremlin, for whom this is their preferred disinformation tactic). A third of the population will say "clearly the White House is lying," a third will say "if Trump says it, it must be true," and the remaining third will say "gosh, I guess this is unknowable." The idea isn't to convince these people of untrue things, it's to fatigue them, so that they will stay out of the political process entirely, regarding the truth as just too difficult to determine.

This is laying important groundwork for the months ahead. If Trump's White House is willing to lie about something as obviously, unquestionably fake as this, just imagine what else they'll lie about. In particular, things that the public cannot possibly verify the truth of. It's gonna get real bad.

Now the question is.. what do we do about it? Is the press/m$m going to get off their asses and stand up to the lies or do we fall into a Goebbels abyss?

Thanks Snark I want them stopped

[Snarkoleptic]

17. Here's why Mrs. and I have been up to.

We've been attending Democratic Party committee meetings in our county.
She ran (unsuccessfully) for a vacancy on the village board.
I'm in the running for precinct committer chair.
I've written LTTE and signed-up to knock on doors/phone bank and work voter registration drive booths.

I've also been blogging, educating (and sometimes trolling) people on both sides of the aisle.

We all need to step up our game to halt the march of fascism.

[Cha]

19. We do.. thank you for all you're doing.

I have personal stuff going on right now that takes over but it will settle down someday!

[Snarkoleptic]

21. Hang in there!

[Cha]

26. Trying!

Thanks! I appreciate that, Snark

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Exactly right.

This is how a propaganda machine is put into place.

However I just found out that the "Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act (by Chris Murphy and Rob Portman)" and rolled into the annual National Defense Authorization Act), was signed in December -

WASHINGTON, D. C. - Worried about foreign governments spreading propaganda in hopes of swaying U.S. elections? A new law authored by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman would address that issue by establishing a State Department center to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts by the U.S. government.

"While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel," said a statement from the Ohio Republican. "Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on."

Portman introduced the "Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act" in March with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. Its language was included in a defense authorization bill that Congress adopted last week. It calls upon the State Department's Global Engagement Center to coordinate U.S. initiatives "to expose and counter foreign disinformation operations and proactively advance fact-based narratives that support U.S. allies and interests."

It also establishes a fund to help train local journalists and think tanks, media organizations and other experts outside the U.S. government "to empower a decentralized network of private sector experts" whose expertise can help formulate the anti-propaganda strategy.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/12/new_law_by_sen_rob_portman_wil.html

The concern is if funding is going to be made available to "local" think tanks here in the U.S. (vs foreign countries), or if funding in the foreign countries goes to the very ones attempting to dismantle U.S. democratic principles... and if the GOP controls the funding, then we can all imagine how that is going to play out.

[Jim Beard]

27. This is one of those things that sounds good but it depends on who is in charge.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Yup. That's the scary part.

[MoonRiver]

8. It won't work.

Maybe it could have before the Internet, but facts are going to be out there. I doubt the "media" wants to be completely marginalized, so they will not fall for it completely.

[Wounded Bear]

10. "The Internet" is part of the problem...

far too many people who believe everything they read without verification.

Like Trump's Tweets, they read something that aligns with what they want to believe and run with it.

[yardwork]

14. The internet makes it easier for this to work, unfortunately.

Trump used disinformation through the internet to get elected. It worked.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Certainly hope you are right on this.

[EllieBC]

16. Are you kidding me?

The internet helps feed this kind of thing. Look at things like vaccinations or climate change. You just have to have a mediocre website and you can get people to believe the information you're selling is legit. Especially to people who are undereducated and lack critical thinking skills.

[Fast Walker 52]

51. yes... but expect a blizzard of bullshit in the coming years that will make truth hard to see

[TheFrenchRazor]

66. it worked in russia, and the internet can be controlled/influenced in many ways. nt

[lunatica]

9. Straight out of the book of abusive spouses

and bullies. It's a well known and studied phenomenon.

The massive marches all over the planet shows we aren't taken in by the lies.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Or at least that we're waking up to the lies...nt

[Midnight Writer]

69. and the book of psy-ops

[yardwork]

12. Can't rec this enough. Keep this kicked.

[Augiedog]

13. The "press" is a figment of our wishful imagination. They are controlled by their masters/owners

and will cowtow to tRump and his appointed minions. Rules that existed pre-Reagan are ignored with studied regularity. The "press" once upon a time was an honored and feared agent of the public because the airwaves were public property. The "Press" is no longer what it was. It brought down McCarthy, Nixon and exposed the tobacco industry along with other services. Now it's been belled like a cat and the rats all laugh when the "press" shows up. They are the 21st century joke with no punch line.

[Snarkoleptic]

20. The corporate-owned media is concerned only with profits.

Bringing back the fairness doctrine would force FCC licensees to broadcast in the public interest.
In the not-so-distant-past, this meant they ran newsrooms at a loss.
Much of the current crop of journos are little more then stenographers.

[mwooldri]

29. And that's why this ex-pat's radio is stuck on BBC.

I may be here in the USA but I turn to the BBC first for news. I'll balance it out with reading other news sources but almost always BBC reporting is accurate, fair, and strikes a political balance and constantly takes a neutral viewpoint. They work with the UK equivalent of the fairness doctrine day in day out on the domestic networks, and as such this translates to their international reporting.

This will mean that when the government cuts funding for public broadcasting we will have to support our public broadcasters, even if all they do is relay more foreign programming from the likes of the CBC, BBC, and more.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

33. Read "The Propaganda Model: Manufacturing Consent"

... by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman. It's available online, and goes into great detail about what you said.

[tavernier]

18. Mere distraction.

The people know this. The media might catch on someday.

[Snarkoleptic]

24. Yeah, the presser was what I call a seagull-presser.

Swoop in, make a lot of noise, shit on everything, and immediately fly off.

What I would like to know is what Bannon is doing right now.
His stench was all over Drumpf's "America is a hellscape" inauguration speech.
I imagine he's also behind the witch-hunt questionnaires that have been required of many federal employees.

[3catwoman3]

64. Seagull presser!

Spot on perfect.

[nini]

22. Easy solution

quit covering them.

Don't show up and even give them the platform to do that stuff.

[TheFrenchRazor]

67. you forget that the MSM are ho's who will do anything for a dime. nt

[Fast Walker 52]

23. scary shit, rough times ahead

[Fast Walker 52]

25. you should all check out #SpicerFacts on Twitter though

Last edited Sun Jan 22, 2017, 01:53 PM - Edit history (1)

hilarious

[Danascot]

38. OMG, the replies are hilarious!

Thanks!

[Fast Walker 52]

48. welcome!

[wryter2000]

28. I think you're right

I wonder, however, how much abuse the press is going to take before they go after him on every detail and scandal.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

31. We need to accept the fact that there are masters at manipulating today's M$M and that

is why they are in the ultimate position of power.

The M$M is readily compliant and willing to be handled, that along with the demise of print media, there are few true investigative journalist left to turn over the rocks.

We are up shit creek and have lost our paddle, without a savior in sight!

The massive demonstrations yesterday are really too late to change this dynamic.

They have the power so unless they do it to themselves by overreaching and even then it would have to get noticed by a sleeping populace, we are in for a long cold, dark night.

[Snarkoleptic]

36. Kellyanne Conway just employed #3 on her MTP appearance.

Said Spicer presented "different facts". She then went on an epic Gish-gallop planting flags everywhere in order to attempt further deflection.
MSM put these creeps in power and are now begin bullied and marginalized. (or maybe it's part of an overall strategy to get more eyeballs )
At one point, she seemed to imply that Chuck Todd was damaging their relationship (and by extension, future access) by asking questions.

Orwellian!

[jeanmarc]

43. The 'relationship' line was rich

She almost made it sound like her and Chuck were breaking up. What she really meant was banning NBC from any coverage of their zoo administration.

It's chilling. I think the press should just stop attending these things. Spicer took no questions. Isn't that part of his job?

[Fast Walker 52]

49. this is a HUGE test for them, and I doubt most of them will pass

I'm hoping enough will do the right thing.

[gordianot]

35. This will take a toll I think they underestimate American public and possibly media anger.

Their only hope is an international threat to public safety, there are plenty international players stupid enough to oblige.

[Generic Other]

39. Well out of fairness to Spicer

[Fast Walker 52]

50. haha! That's what all the white is

[Locrian]

40. North Korea

The whole attendance thing sounds straight out of Kim Jong-un's N Korea propaganda. I bet trump also will start bowling 300s in the white house.

[Enoki33]

41. It is also right out of Putin's playbook.

[TheFrenchRazor]

68. precisely; even "educated" people in the USSR were extremely ignorant/misinformed, and even though

russia is no longer the USSR, well established customs and institutions do not just disappear because of a change in government.

[Hekate]

42. "Laying the groundwork". nt

[hurple]

44. SO...

Maybe the press should just stop reporting on Trump... at all...

Since he's such a narcissist and his main goal is to be THE MOST FAMOUS and get THE BEST RATINGS! BIGLY!

Maybe the best, quickest way to ruin him is to ignore him completely.

[dhill926]

60. well....he is the president whether we like it or not...

so there's no way the press can ignore him. and he of course, knows that.

[creeksneakers2]

63. Trump would carry out atrocities

while we ignore him.

[supertascha]

46. Anyone know the source of this passage?

The original post at http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/135/614062.page says it was not original, but doesn't give the source.

It would be nice to find out where it came from because there may be more good, quotable information.

[nosoapradio]

55. Waldo Jaquith

It's from his FB.

[Denzil_DC]

59. That's correct.

Originally, that person was happy for people to reproduce his words, but wanted to remain anonymous. Now it's gone so viral, he's had to give up on that:

https://twitter.com/waldojaquith/status/823265854720802816

https://twitter.com/waldojaquith/status/823267571080331264

Welcome to DU. If he hadn't (reluctantly) gone public, I'd have been in the awkward position of suggesting that you edit your first post, or self-delete it!

[AgadorSparticus]

52. Right on!! We need to stay diligent and speak up. VERY LOUDLY.

[ancianita]

53. This has really got me going about our control over our signal-to-noise environment.

Thank you for this.

We're going to need to pay close attention to the general media environment from now on, as well.

[DDySiegs]

54. The Big Lie - And Some Little Ones, Too!

In connection with this discussion, it is well to remember one of the principle tenets of the authoritarian liar:

All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes.

From Mein Kampf. See http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kampf.html

[kentuck]

56. Very true.

They are laying the foundation.

[Snarkoleptic]

58. And the meme makers are having a great time with Conway's "Alternate Facts" comment.

[dhill926]

62. oh shit...this made me laugh....

pancakes....haha....

[Paka]

65. Love it!

[jimlup]

61. Most of the deplorables will not even bother to check the evidence

they will accept the propaganda of the orange baboon king without question.

[Snarkoleptic]

71. Too few dare openly state the emperor has no clothes.

N/T

[Cha]

70. George Orwell Quote.. 1984